This poem original appeared on Sumayyah Said So as part of the "30 Poems in 30 Days Challenge in 2014.

i am

i will not apologize for the lies you told yourself about me

i didn’t write the books or make up the scientific rules to classify
i didn’t create the division subtract the intelligence add the animosity or multiply the hate
or stop the clock pausing time to falsify and erase
i didn’t invade the sacred lands move the borders or set the world on fire
i didn’t pillage and plunder rape and ravage to satisfy my evil desire

i am the child that cried “i am”

your fear
your guilt
your uninspired malicious misinformation has dogged my steps
slept in my shadow and pissed in my shoes
has given me bad and worse and demanded that i choose
has made me fight for a collection of broken-down and mismatched tools
to dismantle this legacy i was born into

i am the child that cried “i am”

your history is my burden the weight that bows my back
that makes my knees ache my toes tingle that tells me what i lack
that has kept me from me hidden tales of my lost nation
that points and laughs and shakes a head without any explanation
it curls up a lip and sneers at my shape and the color of my skin
it mocks the texture of my hair and whose bed i sleep in
i will not apologize for the lies you’ve told yourself
i will shout it out scream it let it ring with my dying breath

“i am”

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